Zen taken from the top

In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few

— Shunryu Suzuki, “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind”

A beginning is a very delicate time.

— Princess Irulan, “Dune” (the 1984 motion picture)

Shunryu Suzuki Roshi’s Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind has been a great influence on me since the early days of my Zen practice, Over time, I would like to write a series of reflections on the contents, starting where with the Prologue in this post. It is, fittingly, about beginner’s mind.

Beginner’s mind (shoshin in Japanese) could be said to mean “approaching life without preconceived ideas and judgements.” This is, to some extent, what this term points at, but there is something much subtler at work here, staring us in the face at the same time.

In the book, Suzuki says:

… the most difficult thing is always to keep your beginner’s mind. There is no need to have a deep understanding of Zen. Even though you read much Zen literature, you must read each sentence with a fresh mind. You should not say, “I know what Zen is,” or “I have attained enlightenment.”This is also the real secret of the arts: always be a beginner.

Therefore, pretty fundamental. To be clear, Zen isn’t anti-intellectual, it is simply that its core experience is not an intellectual one, or an anti-intellectual one. Intellectualization isn’t the point. We should see this as a “clue” rather than merely as an admonishment, amongst many other clues we encounter along the way.

How to be, always, a beginner? In our conventional way of thinking, this is not possible, not really. Surely whatever we do, we gain experience, we gain skill. So experience and skill is not what is being pointed at here. Again, something subtler…

What part of your mind has been here before? Think of where you are right now. What has been here before? An array of objects, perhaps including a questionable sofa. But you as well, well, you have been here for years haven’t you? It seems so.

As we go about our day, we tell stories. Stories perhaps about a questionable sofa and what you have eaten, read and watched on it. Stories about what we are thinking and feeling, what we want to do next and what we’d rather not be doing.

Moment to moment, we are not beginners. We pass the moment clinging to our stories without admiring the view. The self, itself, is such a story, a story about our stories.

How can we untell our stories? How can we reset ourselves back to the beginning, this moment, and admire the view for once.

The bad news is we can’t make this happen, not in the usual sense. Trying to untell our stories just results in a story of untelling. This is frustrating, surely there is a trick to this. Something special.

Nothing special. Everyday mind. These are often used to describe enlightenment. We need to be very careful on this point. Enlightenment is staring us right in our face, we already find our being in it.

Stories have pauses. But what is a pause but an untelling? Moment to moment we have the impression of an “I” thinking, or the world relating to this “I”. What if we found that there is a crack in this facade that we plaster over when “I” returns. What if our days are replete with such times already? Will we discover the crack extends into the stories too, once we inhabit the pauses? The sound of a gong? Crack. A stone hitting bamboo. Crack. What does it mean to inhabit a pause, a crack?

We should not chase a mythical untelling, we should embrace being untold. Then we find our true selves, a Story told in one moment. Experienced fully, whether or not there is a story. No one experiencing, the Story is enough in itself.

For Zen students the most important thing is not to be dualistic. Our “original mind” includes everything within itself. It is always rich and sufficient within itself. You should not lose your self-sufficient state of mind. This does not mean a closed mind, but actually an empty mind and a ready mind. If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything.

— Shunryu Suzuki, “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind”

In meditation, after much frustration, we may realize that, actually, if we cannot be anything but enlightened, then the answer must be to “relax into it”. Not chase it. We are always provided for, there is nothing extra to do. This can seem hard to internalize. Developing the story of internalization seems also a tricky thing. But, without exception, always enlightened. But then, what are Zen masters on about? Why does this seem so difficult?

When you meditate, or in your daily activity, relax into just what you are doing. Nothing extra. No story of “Nothing extra”. Have quiet faith that this moment needs no embellishment with a self, or an observer. No subject or object. It is your original nature that cannot be taken away. What is necessary is already being accomplished. There is nothing extra we need to “add” to this. Simply the wall in front of you, or the water running over your hand at the sink. No problem if the self resurfaces, it too is part of the Story, seen just so.

When we have no thought of achievement, no thought of self, we are true beginners. Then we can really learn something. The beginner’s mind is the mind of compassion. When our mind is compassionate, it is boundless.

— Shunryu Suzuki, “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind”

This is why beginner’s mind is so important. A clear mind, without stories obscuring the Story of the moment. The Story needs no telling. The Story that carries all beings compassionately. It is raw Awareness, not even the story of raw Awareness. No observer, no absence of an observer. The Story is not about the future or the past. The Story is Now.

In reality, the stories too are part of the Story. Attaching to them, as if they were the real Story, the only stories, that is the source of our trouble, our difficulty. No need to worry, the story of the self may come back when needed, but we must read more broadly before returning to the old tales with new perspective.

You should establish your practice in your delusion.

— Dogen

Meditate. Go about your activities mindfully. This is most important. This is already enlightenment.

Make space for the Story, it is a Story worth telling, the only Story you will ever hear. It is all there is. Just remember that there is no need to make room for the Story. It is exactly this moment, all encompassing.

Meditate. Go about your activities mindfully. This is most important. This is already enlightenment.

There is a knack to it, embodying that there is no knack. You are always a beginner. It is very hard for humans to accept they are beginners, we always want to be ahead of the pack, to be the one to know the secret. So, we lose our beginner’s mind, even in the very midst of it. You may be an experienced practitioner, but find yourself obstructed by the thought of having “gotten it” previously. It is a spiral process, not a simple slope up the mountain. But, going back to the beginning is not only possible, it is always so, even if we delude ourselves into thinking it is otherwise. We are never lost, the spiral is a bright point.

What we need is to settle down, a Story is being told. A Story told to itself.

Forget everything I have written, this is important.

You have everything you need. Your breath, the screen, the couch, the pressure of a body on a couch. This. This is the meaning. No Story. Just this. A beginner’s mind, from openness, encompasses all things through deep compassion. Could it be otherwise?

Forget everything I have written.

Meditate. Go about your activities mindfully.

This is already enlightenment.